Too Much of a Good Thing
by sundrymunity
Summary: In order to woo her, the Holy Roman Empire gives Italy gifts.


There was silence between the two, a young boy and a young girl (or what looked like one), as she swept and he sat in his chair watching her sweep. A long, almost unbearable silence. Only the steady repetition of the brushing sound kept the two sane. Finally, the boy broke the silence. Loudly.

"Italy! Do you like hats?!"

The girl jumped, then started to sweep faster while her body shook like a leaf.

"Y-Yes Holy Roman Empire! I-I-I do..."

"Good! Because. I. Er. I-I like hats too!"

Ever since that awkward, sudden conversation, she had been receiving boxes. She could always rely on a box to come every week. In each box was a different hat. There was never a note about who it was from, but she knew. Because he watched her when she went out wearing one of her new hats and commented how nice it looked on her, and how it'd be _perfect_ for when they married and became the Roman Empire together.

* * *

There was another box at her door one day, but it wasn't round. It was straight and tall. When she opened it, there was a doll. A pretty little thing, with brown hair and blue eyes and a pretty red dress. Not knowing who had sent it, Italy decided to play with it outside and see if anyone would approach. Bad move, she thought a week later, because the Holy Roman Empire had seen how much she loved the doll and asked her what sort of dolls she liked.

Every week, she would find a new box, a new doll, at her door. They filled her room, and she started to be frightened of their always-open eyes staring at her as she dressed, when she cleaned, and _especially_ when she woke up and fell asleep. So she stopped playing with them one day, like she stopped wearing her hats one day, and they stopped coming.

She breathed a sigh of relief and gave the rest away.

* * *

Italy wrote notes to people sometimes, to cheer them up. She'd leave them on wherever they spent the most time to themselves. The Holy Roman Empire didn't really have a place like that, so she gave it to him in person. That sparked another idea for him. It was nice at first, and gave her good cheer in the mornings and after work.

'_I hope you have a nice day._'

'_Don't overwork yourself!_'

'_There's pasta in the kitchen- Go get some before Austria wakes up._'

But they grew steadily worrying.

'_You looked pretty today._'

_'You're cute-_' The rest was scribbled out, but she could make out a '_when you're sleeping_' through it.

'_Become the Roman Empire with me!_'

It was a nonstop flood of notes at times, several of them stuck onto the door saying things like that. As soon as she'd take them off, new ones would appear a few minutes later.

She stopped giving notes away.

The notes stopped after a while.

* * *

She loved sweets. Yes, Italy _loved_ them. She once, _foolishly_, confided to the Holy Roman Empire that if there was one thing she never got tired of it was sweets.

Boxes, baskets, and _blankets_ full of sweets appeared at her door everytime she returned to it after cleaning. They were her favorites too! Which was funny, because she never mentioned them to anyone but the journal she had been keeping. Shrugging off the coincidence was easy when you were sticking the sweets into your mouth and letting them melt there all afternoon. She didn't even bother to ask around about the gifts she got anymore, she was just nicer to the one who gave them to her: The Holy Roman Empire. This only fueled his devotion, but she didn't know that.

One day, she found herself sick of them. But she didn't want to hurt his feelings a fourth time, so she hid them around her room. There wasn't any need to ask him to stop; Austria had caught wind of his antics and decided to put a stop to the obsessive money-spending himself.

The candy was given to Prussia, who secretly thought the two were too cute but outwardly laughed at his brother.

* * *

The Holy Roman Empire looked down one day, so Italy decided to give him a hug.

"Ve~ Hugs make people feel better!"

Sure, he shoved her off and ran away but he definitely looked happier! She was happy when she got hugs too. Word of this got around somehow (her journal was being a gossip!) and soon, she found herself at the ends of the boy's affectionate hugs. Not that she minded, she liked hugs! Hugs made her feel nice and warm. There could never be too many hugs, right?

Three months later, she didn't know how to tell him. After waking up and finding him hugging her while she slept, she didn't feel like having any more hugs. It felt weird now. But you couldn't just tell someone you didn't like their hugs, that was sort of... Well, it was mean. And Italy wasn't a mean person on purpose. But she had to tell him somehow, so later that day she went up and hugged him.

"Ve... Holy Roman Empire?"

"J-Ja? What's wrong? Do you _want to be the Roman Empire with me_ need anything?"

"... Ve? Um, uh, n-no. It's just that..." She slumped into his arms, and then continued. "It's just that, well... I don't exactly _need_ all the things you've been giving me. I loved every gift, really! It just got a bit... _much_ after a while, you know?"

He seemed heartbroken for a moment, and his arms fell to his side.

"Yes, Italy, I know. I'm running out of money anyways."

It was a lousy excuse, because she knew he'd spend it even if he had none. But the gifts stopped, though she did kind of miss the constant attention. She didn't even tell her journal this. With the year behind her, she resolved to not take anymore gifts from him.

A week later, large quanities of rags and brooms started to come in.


End file.
